Though born in England she is Irish. She studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Wood and Vaughan Williams. She was awarded the Octavia Travelling Scholarship and went to Prague, where her first major work, the 1930 Concertino for piano and orchestra, was performed. She became the first woman chairman of the Composers' Guild in 1959, and was chairman of the SPNM from 1972 to 1975. She received the Cobbett Medal, and in 1977 was awarded the CBE.

1930 (23)

Concertino for piano and orchestra

The Land, for orchestra

1933 (26)

String Quartet No 1

1937 (30)

String Quartet No 2

1938 (31)

String Quartet No 3

1948 (41)

String Quartet No 5

1953 (46)

Proud Thames, overture

1956-7 (49-50)

The Sofa, one-act opera

1958 (51)

The Three Strangers, one-act opera

1960-1 (53 4)

The Departure, one-act opera

1963 (56)

Serenata Concertante for violin and orchestra

1963-4 (56-7)

Samson and the Gates of Gaza, cantata

1963-70 (57-63)

Three Settings of Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins, for high voice and chamber orchestra